Western Jaguars have broken camp ahead of the December festivities and will only resume training in the New Year, coach Mike Malungu has said.
Jaguars demolished Mombasa Sports Club in their last match of the year at the City Park Stadium on Sunday and Malungu observed they will take a deserved rest rest now that their next fixture is set for mid-January.
Jaguars, who are having one of their best Kenya Hockey Union Premier League fruitful season this year scored all their goals in the third quarter.
Bethwel Masambu, broke the deadlock in the 27th minute for the Kakamega-based side but their celebrations were short-lived as James Omondi drew MSC level a minute later.
However, MSC's hopes of a result in the capital were dealt a major blow as Richard Njuki regained Jaguars' lead in the 38th minute before Masambu made it 3-1 in the 49th minute.
The match had a lot of stoppages at the rain-soaked City Park Stadium made ball movement even tougher.
"We had to deal with playing in difficult conditions. Flooding at the stadium made it impossible for us to properly execute our strategy of moving the ball quickly but a win is a win nonetheless," Malungu said.
"Our game is about build up from the back and we lacked speed. Sometimes it's good to win ugly the way we did today. I am pleased that we created chances and took them."
"Our opponents came with a defensive mentality. Having lost 6-0 on Saturday, their priority was to prevent further damage. They wanted a respectable scoreline and they made us work for the win."
MSC have won just once this season, shock win against Parkroad Badgers in September.
With a meagre six points from 17 matches, relegation is inevitable for the tail-enders, who have had a disastrous top-tier return. The coastal side has conceded 15 goals in the last four matches, scoring just thrice.
Jaguars, on the other hand, are on a 12-match unbeaten run, winning 10. Maintaining second spot is Jaguars' priority according to Malungu even as attention switch to the festive period break.
"We want to take the foot off the gas pedal a bit, give players enough rest and come back stronger in January. We still have to play Wazalendo and Parkroad," said Malungu.
